Mushroom and Onion Pie with Brown Rice Crust

As a follow up to my last post on soy and whether it is good for you, I am dedicating this post and the next post to great recipes containing tofu. I came across a few tasty looking ideas while researching all of the benefits of adding soy to your diet. This one really caught my eye. The tofu is in the sauce, which turns into a light, spongy, custardy topping that has a creamy texture within the filling. It is definitely a winner on all levels; simple, delicious, healthy, filling and everyone in my family went up for seconds. 🙂

Are you confused about whether soy is good for you? Below is a quick summary of the videos by Dr. Greger, Dr. Klaper, Dr. Campbell and Dr. McDougall from my last post.

Soy is good for you!
~ Soy helps to prevent bone loss and reduces the risk of breast cancer.
~ It contains phytoestrogens that are protective against breast cancer.
~ It has been shown that women who have breast cancer and consume soy have lower cancer recurrence rates and live longer than those who do not consume soy.
~ Soy is a healthy source of protein especially for young women.
~ Buy organic or non-gmo soy products, such as edamame beans, tofu and tempeh.
~ Stay away from soy protein found in fake meats and protein shakes. Just eat whole foods.

Speaking of breast cancer, according to Dr. Fuhrman, eating just one button mushroom a day has been linked to a 64% reduction in a woman’s chance of getting breast cancer? Wow. That’s incredible!

The recipe I am featuring is on the NutritionStudies.org website. The site of the amazing Dr. Colin Campbell, the 85 year old plant based advocate who wrote The China Study. That was the book that prompted me to become vegetarian in 2008. In 2016, I enrolled in Dr. Campbell’s Plant-based Nutrition Certificate Course through E-Cornell. I highly recommend taking it for anyone interested. I was fortunate to meet him in 2018.

The base of this recipe was created by Helyn’s Kitchen, a plant-based eating website by another Plant-based Nutrition Certificate program graduate. Although the dish looked very interesting, a couple of the reviews mentioned that it was bland. The last thing I want is a meal lacking in flavour, especially when I am cooking for friends and family who sometimes need to be convinced that plant-based food is amazing!

To try to improve on it, I added as much flavour as I could come up with and it paid off! My husband says he thinks it is his new favourite meal, and our German foodie friends asked for the recipe, so BAM! Score!

It’s simple to make. You just pre-cook the rice, cook up some mushrooms and onions and blend up a sauce to pour over the entire pie, and pop it in the oven!

I had planned to add another element of steamed swiss chard to this recipe, but when I went out to my garden, the deer had beat me to it… Ugh. It is tough to fend off wild life. Good thing they are so dang cute.

Next time I make it, I will steam up some chopped swiss chard or beet tops with some garlic and salt and pepper and add a layer between the mushrooms and the onions. It’s never a bad idea to pop some extra veggies in your dish. If you are serving someone who will really balk at that, you could always add it to only half of the pie. I highly recommend doubling this recipe and making two pies. Cook them both through, then freeze one to reheat later. If you are going to go to the trouble of making the dish, why not have double? I promise it will get eaten fast. I couldn’t even get mine into the freezer for later!

Mushroom and Onion Pie with Brown Rice Crust

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Serves: 6 Prep Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes Cooking Time: 45 minutes 45 minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked brown rice, long or short grain
• 1.5 pounds of white or cremini mushrooms, sliced 1/4 " thick
• 1 large onion, sliced finely in strips
• 2 tablespoons sherry or white wine
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 teaspoon steak spice
• 1/2 teaspoon Old Bay or other similar seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon molasses or date sugar
• For the sauce:
• 7 ounces of tofu, medium, firm or extra firm, drained (if you double it, you can use an entire tofu container)
• 1 cup plant based milk (soy, almond, coconut, etc)
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup arrowroot powder or tapioca starch
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons Braggs Aminos or soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Cook the rice with water according to package instructions. Set aside to cool. This could be done ahead of time. 
2. Slice the onion into thin strips and place in a hot frying pan.  Add 2 diced garlic cloves and 1 tsp of steak spice and water-sauté until tender. Add 1 tsp molasses or date syrup at the end and cook at bit more to incorporate. Set aside.
3. Slice the mushrooms into even sized 1/4 inch slices. (This makes the consistency really divine.) Water sauté the mushrooms with garlic powder, black pepper, and Old Bay seasoning (or other). When the mushrooms are tender and most of their water has cooked off, add the sherry or white wine and cook for a few more minutes until the wine has mostly cooked off. Set aside.
4. Place the tofu, milk, nutritional yeast, arrowroot powder(or tapioca starch), garlic, lemon juice, soy sauce, onion powder, turmeric and salt in a blender and blend until smooth.
5. Spoon the rice into a lightly oiled pie plate and press down to form a crust. The rice should be warm, which will make it more pliable and easy to work with. Use your fingers to work it up the sides.
6. Toss the mushrooms with half of the tofu mixture and spoon into the pie or tart dish. Flatten.
7. Top with the onion, then pour the remaining tofu mixture over the top, smoothing out the surface.
8. Add a twist or two of ground black pepper to the top.
9. Bake for about 45 minutes at 350° F. Cover loosely with some tin foil towards the end so the crust doesn’t get too dry.
10. Let cool for a while before serving (it will slice better).

www.thevibrantveggie.com

 

Notes

If you like the idea of adding some greens to your pie, steam up some sliced swiss chard, beet greens or spinach with some garlic powder and salt and pepper. Add this layer in between the mushrooms and onions. I would suggest doubling the recipe and freezing one after cooking it.